Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 74.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,211 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 52,632 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.07% of Lakeland Financial worth $1,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LKFN. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 47.6% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 431 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,306 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 78.9% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 381 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 45.3% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 542 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.93, for a total transaction of $58,875.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,261.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.93, for a total transaction of $58,875.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 3,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $209,261.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $783,120.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company's stock, valued at $925,060.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,728 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,449 in the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 119,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,487. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.65 and a 200-day moving average of $59.31. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $43.05 and a 12 month high of $73.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64 and a beta of 0.67.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $65.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.81 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.85% and a return on equity of 14.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 25th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LKFN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Lakeland Financial Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits.